Context
Ensuring speedy trials requires concerted effort from both government and the judiciary
Issue: Undertrials in Jails
Who is an undertrial?
He is a person who is currently on trial or who is imprisoned on remand whilst awaiting trial.
- The 78th Report of Law Commission also includes a person who is in judicial custody on remand during investigation in the definition of an ‘undertrial’
Backdrop
Union Law Minister has issued a message to all high court chief justices to “review” cases of undertrials who have been incarcerated for long and to “take suomotu action for their release”
Seriousness of the problem
- National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, for example, shows that of the over 2.82 lakh people in jail in 2015, about 67 per cent were undertrials
- More than 65 per cent of the undertrials spend three months to five years in jail before getting bail
Cause
High number of undertrials can be attributed to following causes,
- Overburdened judiciary: There is a lack of judges to deal with the rising number of cases. Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedures mandates that judges can extend a detainee’s custody for a period of 15 days at a time. For that to happen, the detainees have to be produced regularly before the courts. This rarely happens; proceedings don’t take place in time and the undertrials are shuttled from court to court
- Poverty: Most of the undertrials are from poor backgrounds and disadvantaged social groups resulting in a lack of resources to access the justice system
Read More: A very good article on undertrial issue
